December 13, 2019 / Media Mention /Food Safety Strategies
Dan Collins, regional technical director for McCloud, contributes to Food Safety Strategy’s article “Preventing pests in food handling, packing, processing and storage facilities”
Pest prevention is an important part of food safety. If you have pests that get into your product, the product is obviously then unusable, and the recall alone can leave your business with a bad reputation.
Dan Collins shares what food manufacturers need to know to keep their facilities pest-free. This includes the basics like every pest requires food, water and shelter in order to survive and subsequently infect structures. “Personnel at each facility type must be cognizant of the pest types that could severely impact their operations,” he adds.
Dan also notes that pest prevention starts on the exterior. “Flowering and fruiting plants should be avoided as should creeping plants such as arborvitae. Mulch beds should be avoided at all costs at any facility type as they are highly conducive to pest threats such as rodents, termites and ants.” He even mentions the importance of selecting exterior lighting that isn’t attractive to insects and the building materials used when constructing food-grade facilities.
But in the end, monthly self-inspections focused on sanitation, personnel practices, structural integrity, equipment design and so on can proactively identify and eliminate conditions conducive to pest activity to ensure a pest-free environment.